Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Tuesday, August 4, 2026Official site

The Board of Commissioners heard budget presentations from the Parks, Recreation and Senior Services, Probate Court, Emergency Management Agency, Water Resources, and Planning and Development departments. Key discussions included staffing challenges, infrastructure needs, and proposed technology enhancements across various county services.

About this meeting

Government Body
Board of Commissioners
Meeting Type
Board Of Commissioners
Location
Rockdale County, GA
Meeting Date
August 4, 2026

Published excerpts

Only published remarks appear here. The full transcript is not published.

30 sections (from 31 segments)

11:30 – 11:45•JaNice Van Ness

Any questions? Thank you. I have a couple questions. So under Department 61, Parks and Recreation, it's about a $460,000 increase in non-exempt salaries. Can you talk about that?

12:05 – 12:16•JaNice Van Ness

And then what about for contract labor under 61 10 dash 61? Talk about the increase, because when we look at 24 and 25,

12:55 – 13:11•JaNice Van Ness

Okay. So that's where it would be. It's under culture and recreation. For the vendors? Yes. That's the page, the 6110. 6110, it says contract labor under purchased and contract services.

14:02 – 14:14•JaNice Van Ness

6110. so it does it looks like there's been like A large increase of maybe events with bounty houses and that kind of thing.

14:31 – 14:54•JaNice Van Ness

Okay. And then over in salaries non-exempt under... 6120 yes. Participant recreation that increase so for 2024 It was 568,000 roughly. 614,000 the next year. 685 the next year. And now it's going to jump to $1,140,700.

16:36•JaNice Van Ness

thank you director thank you deputy director Wilson

16:53•JaNice Van Ness

Hello. Good to see you. Congratulations again on graduating with your degree.

19:01•JaNice Van Ness

Because a lot of people don't know what the probate judge's office does. So you might want to explain that.

22:12 – 22:49•JaNice Van Ness

So, Jamie, I think that you bring up a really good point that we need a documented process. And I know that we have a lot of partners. So, you know, this struggle is not just Rockdale. It's everywhere throughout the state. And the change in the way that we work with our mental health population, and it really is challenging. So we'll commit our best effort to try and help you resolve that. So thanks for bringing that to light. Thank you. That would be wonderful. And they can't, like if you call National EMS, they are not a transporter either.

22:56•JaNice Van Ness

It's one of those little known rules that you don't think about until you have to work with it.

23:32•JaNice Van Ness

With that situation. How many have been denied?

29:00•JaNice Van Ness

Isn't that what your associate judge does now? Currently. Okay.

30:46 – 31:02•JaNice Van Ness

So I have a couple. When I look at the budget for 24, 25, 26, 27 proposed, it looks like there's a minimal budget. Things are going really good. We're at 771, and just over the last short time frame, it's jumped significantly, about 25%.

1:24:51 – 1:25:04•JaNice Van Ness

Can you go through, I'm a little confused in the water department. It seems like there's several layers of billing this, financial that, all kinds of things. So I'm trying to understand the hierarchy of how that works and how that's efficient.

1:25:56 – 1:26:07•JaNice Van Ness

So I think you've given us a lot of different positions within the organization, but that's the one that I'd love to see the layout for of how that all works.

1:26:14•JaNice Van Ness

Outside of what you presented, yes. Just how the financial piece works. Because I know there's several people. I think Barbara is the customer service manager.

1:38:50•JaNice Van Ness

I always have questions, right? And so when we build those projects, does RWR get reimbursed for the work?

1:40:59•JaNice Van Ness

I don't think so. It's a lot of information to digest. Yes, ma'am. All right. Thank you. No questions.

1:58:23 – 1:58:46•JaNice Van Ness

so we can scour the internet and then really get out and start the interface we know there's at least 125 on those sites right exactly exactly so maybe deputy director white can um can make that happen and help promote that in our local newspaper and other places that may help get the word out yes ma'am will do thank you

2:03:11 – 2:03:35•JaNice Van Ness

And if I may digress for a minute, I think that we tried that approach. It didn't work with the UDO. Which approach? With having the consultant. And they ran the show, and it just didn't feel like it worked how we ideally wanted it to. So what in your mind is going to be different this time, the way that we approach the

2:04:06 – 2:05:19•JaNice Van Ness

will be and so when we set the scope this time it'll be more meticulous you all will see the scope before it goes out but i think we just need to we saw the scope before and i felt like it was a a good scope of what we wanted and you know all the community so i've been on the other side of the table where i've been invited to participate and sometimes it feels like it's just moving in action to qualify and say you got input But it doesn't feel good because it doesn't I mean, a lot of the things that we're doing right now, like we already knew that we're out and all three of us are out in the c

2:05:54 – 2:06:21•JaNice Van Ness

so I could see maybe condensing the timeline but the scope would be a little different yeah right in that part I know and I think that's really the comprehensive plan is what we want to get to I think so we actually like to see it like now but I think it's all these details have been frustrating to get us closer without seeing what the comprehensive plan would be and I wonder sometimes if we should have done that

2:11:52•JaNice Van Ness

And I know you had talked about maybe creating a building inspection department. But it sounds like maybe that's a lot to take on at this point.

2:13:41•JaNice Van Ness

So even if we've only gotten a couple this year, that doesn't financially make sense, though.

2:14:17 – 2:14:33•JaNice Van Ness

So when I met them at one of the conventions, they were guaranteeing like so many names, contact information and all that. So it seemed like there was a guarantee rate, if you will, that they were going to provide for the money we paid.

2:14:38•JaNice Van Ness

It was $5,000 when I went to, but that was a year and a half ago. But I just want to make sure it's sufficient.

2:14:53•JaNice Van Ness

Like code enforcement? Can they also do code enforcement violations?

2:17:41•JaNice Van Ness

Why wouldn't a consultant have that if we were going to pay one?

2:17:48•JaNice Van Ness

Would you use this for feedback for the UDO? Yes.

2:29:16 – 2:29:50•JaNice Van Ness

But thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other questions? Well, thank you for everyone's hard work and the finance department and to all the directors and teams here today. Thank you again for your time and devotion to making this process work and bringing more information to the citizens in Rockdale. At this time, I'll call to adjourn the meeting. Thank you. You should make this sometime. Have you ever had it?

These excerpts are remarks by officials whose identity a person confirmed, from a transcript generated automatically from the official public meeting video and presented unedited. Accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.